The Write Move

[Note from Rob: I recently met Anna Timoney at Escape the City HQ. I was really impressed by her writing and asked her to write something for the Escape blog.]

[If you’re a startup, SME or social enterprise looking for a copywriter – look no further. Have a read and get in touch with Anna via the comments at the bottom.]

The Write Move

Inspiration comes to people in different forms. It can strike anytime, anywhere. Maybe it’s that poster you happened to read on the underground. A conversation you had with a friend. A chance encounter. A sign. Whatever it is, it sets the cogs in your mind working and challenges your routine, urges you to re-consider your options. It can spark change. And change, well, change is exciting.

———————————————————————————————-

For me, the drawn out claustrophobia I had endured in the corporate framework culminated in one Eureka concept. Escape. The idea had been percolating for some time but I can pinpoint the exact moment I vowed to make it a reality:

A man on a penny farthing bike trundles by.

His beard is white with sand and a myriad of gems and trinkets cascade down his bare chest. Behind him stroll two leisurely revellers, their bodies draped in furs and sequins, face paint under their eyes. Distant music shouts forth a vibrancy, a zest for life. The sky is suffused with pink as the sun, a watery orb veiled by dust, begins its ascent. It is morning time in Black Rock City.

Burning Man, the annual festival in the Nevadan desert has a tendency to polarise opinion. It is popularly considered to be the last true vestige of hippie culture. Whether you view it as a week-long rave, an experiment in utopian living (or a cross between the two) there is no denying that for its duration, this desolate plain is a hub of creativity. Freed from the constraints of the outside world people design, build, make, with passion and originality. This temporary society provokes collaboration and inspires artists, writers, light engineers, musicians etc (the list is exhaustive) to up their game and deliver something outstanding.

I realised that whenever I was introduced to people at Burning Man, I said I was a writer. It wasn’t just that my stuffy sounding office title was at odds with my uber liberal surroundings, I was bored with my job. I found that the title didn’t reflect my personality or who I was. That morning when I said the words “I’m a writer” for the umpteenth time, I vowed that this white lie would manifest into a reality. And it did.

I returned home, left my job and moved to London in November where I have been working as a freelance writer and looking for full time employment in the creative sector ever since.

I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.

Ambitious and intelligent people can find themselves programmed to achieving a specific goal. You work hard all through school and University to get into finance or get into law. And when you get there, then what? If you discover you love it, well then you’ve found your passion and this post won’t resonate with you. But if you begin to feel suffocated by your homogenised environnement, by long hours spent working on projects you don’t care about, by ceaseless office jargon and arbitrary bureaucracy…then you need to escape. Channel your talents towards finding success somewhere else.

Life is too short to feel trapped in a job you hate. Let ‘Do something Different’ be your mantra and become inspired by a whole plethora of career changing possibilities. It will be the best decision you’ve ever made.

If you want to receive new Escape the City blog posts directly into your inbox just click here. We write about leaving big corporates, pursuing alternative careers, building businesses, and going on big adventures. We are hard at work over on the main site building Escape Profiles that help people make big career changes and find jobs that matter to them.

Want to chat? Best place to reach us is @escthecity on Twitter and www.facebook.com/EscapetheCity on Facebook. Follow both accounts to hear about new job opportunities and inspirational / useful career change resources.

About Escape the City

Frustrated by climbing the corporate ladder, we decided to build a community to help people build meaningful careers doing work that matters – to them and to the world. We help talented people find fulfilling work by making big career changes, building businesses, & going on big adventures. We’d love you to come with us on this journey.